Today has been one of the best days of our trip. I managed to get Gemmola out of bed early this morning for a quick breakfast before beginning an expedition to the Lipari cemetary. We were going to find as many Gemmolas as we could!
Luckily we hit a major jackpot early on. Otherwise we may have tired quickly and decided to give up the search of what turned out to be a very large cemetery to find some shade. Finding Martina’s great-great-grandfather Vincenzo Gemmola (d. Lipari 1927) within 15 minutes of starting this daunting task (!!) gave us the inspiration to keep going. In addition to Fenechs, Trimbolis and many Bivianos, there were numerous finds that pointed to my Gemmola.
The second major find was Nunziata Strangio (died 27/8/1934 aged 81), Martina’s great-great-grandmother – Vincenzo’s wife!
And also: Angela Gemmola, daughter of Vincenzo – Peter’s grandfather’s sister (married a Bargellini, 1/3/1881 – 3/12/1968); a few Pinzones, and some Ravesis too. Then, on a final pass up the top end where the family tombs were, we found an unknown link. It was the tomb of the Gemmola and Hunziker families! They must have been cousins or siblings of Vincenzo. Inside were Marianna Assunta Gemmola (16/8/1898 – 17/7/1981), Clelia Gemmola (20/1/1905 – 10/7/1989), Giuseppe Gemmola (16/2/1882 – 1/2/1959), Nicola Gemmola (16/2/1853 – 24/1/1937), as well as Mariannina Costa (sposata Gemmola) (1862 – 1917), Anna Calabrese (1928 – 2004), Sandro Hunziker (11/11/1926 – 16/12/1985), and Edwin Hunziker (3/4/1901 – 13/3/1986). Pheww!
After coffee and a stroll we made some delicious sandwiches from local produce dipped in olive oil so good it could have come from Greece. Now we are lying on a small beach a stone’s-throw from our room, where we’ll until it’s time to head to the square to watch Australia try not to flounder again in the world cup. (And a belated congratulations to Greece on their last game – unfortunately we missed it and just picked up the scores today.)
We got some nice detail photos of this catacomb with Vincenzo’s medal-adorned portrait on it; 
Vincenzo Gemmola, probable war hero;
Some family tombs at the top of the cemetary; 
Among the family tombs, the surprise find of the ‘Famiglia Gemmola e Hunziker’, which was directly adjacent to the Fenech family tomb; 
The family tree – the Vincenzo we found today is at top left.
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